1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an umbrella cover for covering the umbrella in its closed state. The umbrella cover is secured to the umbrella at its tip or ferrule, and comprises an extensible cylindrical roll of a spirally wound strip which may be pulled up to cover the outer peripheral surface of the umbrella.
2. Prior Art
Various umbrella covers have been recently proposed for covering a closed umbrella. Some of the covers are attached to the tip or the ferrule of the umbrella, and comprise an extensible cylindrical body. These umbrella covers may be packed up compactly when the umbrella is in use, namely, when the umbrella is open, and when the wet umbrella is closed, they may be elongated to cover the outer peripheral surface of the closed umbrella in cars, trains, shops, and the like. Typical such umbrella covers include Japanese Utility Model Application KOKAI Nos 60-120622 and 59-21215 wherein bellows system is utilized for their extension, and Japanese Utility Model Application KOKAI No. 57-27924 wherein a plurality of cylinders respectively having different diameters are nested to enable the extension.
The umbrella covers of the bellows system, since they are packed up in their folded state, suffer from aesthetic problem that creases remain in their elongated state. The umbrella covers of the nesting system suffer from water leakage through gaps between the adjacent cylinders, and are frequently stuck disenabling a smooth elongation.
In view of such situation, the inventor of the present invention proposed Japanese Patent Application No. 1-177360 (Japanese Patent Application KOKAI No. 2-1268035 ) directed to an umbrella cover comprising an extensible cylindrical roll of a spirally wound film tape, which is axially pulled out to form an elongated cylinder. More illustratively, the umbrella cover of this application comprises a spirally wound elongated film tape formed with a continuous engaging ridge on each of the opposite longitudinal edges of the film tape. The outer end portion of the spirally wound film tape is fixed to a ring member. When the ring member is moved along the winding axis of the spirally wound film tape, the film tape will be spirally pulled out until the engaging ridge on one longitudinal edge of one turn of the spirally wound film tape engages the engaging ridge on the other longitudinal edge of the adjacent turn of the spirally wound film tape to avoid an excessive pulling out of the spirally wound film tape. The inner end portion of the spirally wound film tape is secured to a supporting member, which in turn is secured to the umbrella at its ferrule. This application also discloses an embodiment wherein inner surfaces of adjacent turns of the spirally wound film tape are connected to one another with a string of a length slightly shorter than the width of the film tape in order to more reliably avoid the axially pulled out film tape from becoming loose and entangled.
The umbrella cover of this type can smoothly and easily cover the outer surface of the closed umbrella by merely pulling out the spirally wound film tape in its axial direction, and may be restored to its original non-elongated state by merely packing up the pulled out wound film tape. Also, such an umbrella cover is free of creases and has a simple appearance in its elongated state. Furthermore, the umbrella cover of this type does not suffer from water leakage problem since the gap between adjacent turns of the spirally wound film tapes would be reduced upon the elongation of the spirally wound film tape.
Although the umbrella cover proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 1-177360, supra, has such advantages, it also suffers from the problems as described below.
The loosening of the spirally wound film tape upon its elongation is primarily prevented by providing the continuous engaging ridge on each of the opposite longitudinal edges of the film tape, which engage one another upon elongation of the spirally wound film tape to prevent the film tape to be excessibly pulled out. It is, however, practically difficult to prevent the loosening of the spirally wound film tape only by such engaging ridges, and the umbrella cover of the above-cited application attempts to more reliably avoid the loosening by further providing the strings which connect adjacent turns of the film tape. Provision of such strings are actually quite troublesome, and results in a significantly increased production cost. More illustratively, the strings have to be provided on the inner surface of the film tape to prevent the strings from being exposed on the outer surface of the elongated umbrella cover for aesthetic reason, and therefore, the provision of the strings should be carried out while the spirally wound film tape is pulled out at least to a certain degree. Such a process actually demands close attention as well as hand skill, and therefore, is quite difficult to adapt in actual production line.